More Friends Of Mineral Town: Family Ties
by Jadzaea
Summary: Just as Jovie and Kai return to Mineral town to begin their new life as a family, Kai's past comes back to haunt him. They discover that family can be made, family can be broken, and family can be reformed. Sequel to Belonging. Kai X OC
1. Prologue

_Welcome back for more punishment! I finally got off my butt and posted this story, beginning with a bit of fluff. Reviews are more than welcome, as always._

* * *

Jovie leaned on the railing of the Sun Skimmer as it sailed leisurely back to Mineral Town. She smiled as she savored the smell of the ocean breeze, which caught up wisps of her wavy emerald green hair that had escaped from the messy bun her she had hastily pulled it into. She would always look forward to the yearly vacation she and Kai had agreed upon, although she knew nothing would be as wonderful as Wakaya had been.

She turned and looked up at the deck of the boat, where Kai stood at the wheel. Her new husband was a vision with tawny skin, dark eyes, and a sinfully handsome face framed by wavy black hair. She had also been delighted to finally gaze upon the lean muscle that accented his form on their wedding night. Of course, the most memorable part of their honeymoon had been the discovery that he handled his body extremely well, and they had hardly left their hut the entire week.

A glint from the deck below caught Kai's attention, and he looked down to see Jovie looking up at him. Her brilliant blue eyes shone in the sun, and he had no doubt that they had been the cause of the flash of light. She had a smirk upon her face, the one she had developed the morning following their wedding night that completely betrayed her train of thought. Just seeing it absolutely wrecked him now, and caused his body to jump to attention almost immediately.

"Do not give me that look right now, Jovie," he said with a laugh.

"What look?" she asked coquettishly.

"The one that totally tells me that you're picturing me naked."

"Why not? Maybe I'd like to see you naked rather than imagine it."

He pointed toward the horizon, and Jovie was that the beach of Mineral Town was just starting to come into view. "We'll be hitting the sand in twenty minutes. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to be giving a show to Mineral Town."

Jovie laughed and leaned against the railing. "Well, not today." She heard Kai laugh and begin to climb down to the deck she stood on. Moments later, his arms snaked around her waist. She leaned back into him, taking in his scent and enjoying his warm body pressed against hers. "I'm going to miss being able to pounce on you whenever I please."

"You can still pounce on me as much as you want. We just have to find a balance between us, and the other people in our lives." He pressed his lips to her neck, then she felt him smile against her skin. "Although, we'll have to make up for lost time that we're working after I've come home in the evening."

His breath on her skin made her heart skip a beat. "And on your lunch break."

"And before you go out to work in the morning," he said before pressing his lips to the back of her neck just below her hair, making her heart skip a few more beats. She saw the beach coming ever closer, and people standing on it.

"Kai, if you keep that up, I'm going to shove you down on this deck and do what I please, regardless of whether those people are watching or not."

"I'm just giving you something to think about for after we get home."

"How long do you think it will take for us to break the bed?"

"At the rate we're going, we'll probably be fixing it within a month. Well, unless we spread ourselves to other furniture. And the rug will come in quite handy."

She smirked as she felt him press against her backside, and he whimpered into her ear. "Oh, you have to go moor the boat. We'll be docking soon."

"You are in a heap of trouble when we get home, Jovie," he growled into her ear.

"Excellent. Let's break the bed tonight."


	2. It's Good To Be Home

Kai couldn't help but smile the next day as he unfolded a huge banner to hang over the door of the Seaside Lodge. The previous evening had been a blur with most of Mineral Town waiting for him and Jovie on the beach and dragging them off to a party at the Inn. All he could remember was eating, drinking, talking, and just wanting to get home. And he and Jovie had nearly made good on breaking the bed. He had nothing to compare to, but he was certain that Jovie's higher-than-average strength and stamina had something to do with how mind-numbing their sex was. Tack that onto the list of benefits of marrying a half goddess.

Kai still remembered how Jovie's heritage had frightened him away a little over a year ago, and shook his head whenever he thought of it now. He couldn't possibly imagine a day without her glinting blue eyes, hair the color of the forest, and skin that had a faint shimmer to it. Her strength allowed her to do amazing things and work much harder than anyone else he knew could. He was positively in awe of her, and he didn't think he'd ever know what had made her talk to him in the first place. He'd spend the rest of his life trying to make up for how he had hurt her in leaving after last summer, and he was about to take the next step by expanding his business.

"Hey, need some help?" Kai turned around to see Grey and Cliff standing on the stairs to the restaurant's deck. Grey grinned and continued, "That banner looks like it could eat you whole."

Kai grinned back. "Sure. If one of you helps me hang it, the other can make sure it's straight."

"Since you two are newly married, you can bond while you hang the banner," Cliff said with a mischievous grin. "I'll do the much harder job of making sure it'll look wonderful and do Kai's new business proud." Grey and Kai both rolled their eyes as they unfolded the banner.

"So Kai, I see you and Jovie aren't sporting darker tans since you left. Is it safe to assume that you never made it outside?"

Kai laughed as he and Grey spread the banner out and prepared to climb the ladders that were leaning against the building. "You cut right to the chase, don't you Cliff?"

"He's just trying to get his jollies from you because he's too chicken to ask Ann to marry him," Grey said with a smirk.

"I am not chicken! I'm just waiting for the right time," Cliff said.

"Whatever you say, Cliff."

"So Kai . . ."

"If you _must_ know, we did make it outside," Kai began as he and Grey reached the tops of their respective ladders. "But not much. We did have to eat, unfortunately."

Cliff laughed. "Seriously? Grey said something similar about his honeymoon. I thought once you married a girl that you'll only get it on Starry Night and your birthday."

Kai looked at Grey with mock curiosity. "Grey, what are these odd girls he speaks of?"

"I don't know. I've never seen one," Grey replied.

"Hey, in my defense, the only example I have is Duke and Manna," Cliff said.

Both Grey and Kai looked at each other. "That's a good point," Kai said. "Just don't hang out in the bar all the time, get drunk, and act like a jackass. Your marriage will be fantastic."

"As long as Ann doesn't turn into one of the Gossip Queens," Grey said. "That would be a real downer."

"Nah, she doesn't go for gossip," Cliff said with a grin. "So you guys had a good time?"

"Beyond good. Neither of us are really into sight-seeing, and Jovie works herself to the bone all the time. So Wakaya was the perfect place to go. Nothing to do but eat, drink, swim, sleep, and each other. We did plenty of all of the above."

Grey grinned. "Just don't name your kid Wakaya. You'll have to explain where the name came from."

Kai laughed. "Yeah, that would be dumb. Cliff, how does that look?"

"Kai, bring the left corner up a bit," Cliff said. "There, that's perfect!" Cliff shuffled his feet as Kai and Grey began to nail their respective corners to the building. "You know, it sucks being all alone at the Inn. It's lonely without someone to harass before you go to sleep."

"So ask Ann to marry you," Grey said as he began to climb back down his ladder.

"But I can't just do it without prepping!"

"Sure you can," Kai said. "Just wing it. She'll love it however it comes out."

"But—"

"Do we have to make you go order a feather?" Grey asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Um . . . no?"

"Good answer. We'll kick your butt if you don't soon." Grey looked up at the banner and smiled. "Your place is looking good, Kai. I think you could do just as well as Doug."

"Jovie thinks so too," Kai replied. "I make different types of food than Doug does, so I wouldn't be stepping on his toes."

"I was proud of you when I saw the flyers at the beginning of Summer, Kai," Cliff said. "It takes balls to just change your whole way of life to be close to the woman you love. I'd like to think that I could have balls like that."

"You do, Cliff. But you have to use them and go buy a damn blue feather!"

"Alright then, if it'll shut the two of you up." Grey and Kai both smirked at one another when Cliff scowled.

* * *

Jovie bade goodbye to the Harvest Sprites as Kai prepped his restaurant for business the next day. She had brought them a huge basket of goodies as thanks for taking care of the farm for the week while she went away on her honeymoon. She gleefully made her way to the inn to tell Ann all about her week with Kai. When she got in, Mary, Popuri, Karen, and Elli were waiting with Ann for her. She chuckled.

"You're all waiting for me, aren't you?" she asked.

"Damn straight we are," Karen said with an impish grin.

Ann grabbed Jovie's wrist and started to drag her toward the stairs. "And now you're going to tell us all about your honeymoon!" she said with a huge smile. The other girls followed and they were soon in the empty guest room with the door shut and locked. All of the girls plopped down on various beds and chairs. "So spill it! Where'd you go, what'd you do—besides each other—and what'd you see?"

"Well, we spent the wedding night at home. We wanted to have that memory in the house we'd always live in. Then we left on his boat the next morning. We headed south for a day and checked into a hut on Wakaya. It was _right_ on the end of the boardwalk that extended out into the bay, and it was the biggest one. So we went out and spent time on the beach, walked to local restaurants, and swam a bunch. Then at the end of the five days, we got back on the boat to come home. It was so much fun. Oh! And I brought you guys these!" Jovie reached into her rucksack and pulled out five glass bottles filled with pink sand and sea shells. "I brought the bottles with me and filled them with sand and shells from the beach on Wakaya."

The girls all looked at them and smiled. Each one had each girl's name written on a tag made from palm tied onto the bottle's neck with twine. "Our honeymoon was perfect, but we both want to take a more exotic trip for our first anniversary," Karen said.

"Make him take you to Wakaya!" Popuri said. "I've heard it's beautiful there. I'm so going to make Harris take me."

Mary laughed. "He has to propose first!" she said.

"I don't think it's far off," Ann said. "Thomas has told my dad that Harris is so much happier after starting to see Popuri."

"Really?" Popuri asked with her eyes gleaming.

Karen shushed everyone. "We can talk of Popuri and Harris later. We haven't heard about those warm, tropical nights yet," she said with a smirk. All five girls turned to Jovie.

"You're right!" Ann said. "So . . . what was it like?" Jovie looked at them all, and simply smiled.

Elli immediately grinned. "I'd say someone had a lot of fun this past week and possibly this morning, considering the late start I think she got."

"You medical people and your keen eyes," Jovie said with a laugh. "Being married is damn fun. I keep wondering how many brain cells we're killing each time, as neither of us can think straight afterward. I hope it's not many, otherwise, we'll be completely stupid before our first anniversary."

"You mean, right from the get go?" Karen said in disbelief. "It took Rick and me a couple of weeks to get it right."

"Well, no. It hurt me the first time and it took us a couple of times to get it right for me after that. But he was so proud of himself when we did that I had to laugh."

Mary laughed out loud. "Grey was proud of himself too. Men are ridiculous, aren't they?"

"I don't know. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to reduce him to the human equivalent of goo."

Popuri's eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Damn straight. They totally get dopier on you afterward too."

Ann laughed. "I'm so going to reduce my husband to goo someday!"

"You will, Ann. And then wait until your dad asks you how the honeymoon was," Karen chuckled.

Ann looked totally shocked. "He will not."

"Oh yes he will," Mary said. "Both my parents asked, and so did Saibara. Talking about anything like that with my mother or Saibara is weird, so I totally changed the subject. Jovie, what's wrong?"

"We're going to my parents' house for lunch. I really don't want them asking how it was," she groaned.

"It's okay. I'm sure they know what happens. You're here, after all," Karen replied.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. I'm going to push the image of my parents out of my mind. And now I'm going to go eat with them."

* * *

"Jovie! Kai!" Florimell said ecstatically before crushing both in turn with hugs. "You guys look great! Come in, lunch is nearly ready." Kai and Jovie had to smile as the goddess ushered them into the house. The shift from emerald hair done in an intricate up-do with flowing silver robes to a regular town dress and a simple bun atop her head was still difficult to fathom. But as glorious as she looked in those robes, rising from the pond in the mountains, she looked even happier in the two floor cottage she had Gotz build for her across from the Poultry Farm.

The cottage looked even homier than Jovie's, with a quilt folded on the back of the sofa, that undoubtedly came from the sewing machine in the corner. There was a basket with yarn, knitting needles, and a work in progress sitting next to the rocking chair near the front window. The kitchen was open to the rest of the bottom floor, making the room seem larger than it was. A bookcase that wasn't there before stood next to the staircase, and it was already near overflowing with books. A fireplace stood on the other side of the staircase squarely in the middle of that wall, with a TV in the corner a few feet from it and the sofa and a couple of cushy chairs.

"Mom, I love what you've done with the house," Jovie said as she looked around with a smile.

"It's not all me. Half of it is Jack's," Florimell said, glancing at Jack in the kitchen with look of complete adoration. "He brought the pictures too, Jovie."

Florimell motioned to the wall above the sofa. There were all the family pictures that her father had in their apartment hanging on the wall, and some that she had never seen, but were older than the others. There were also three brand new ones: Kai and Jovie's wedding picture, Florimell and Jack from the wedding, and one of the four of them. Jovie's favorite was the one of all four of them—it signified the start of a new life that included her parents, and giving Kai parents that loved him.

"Jovie, Kai, come see your old man in the kitchen," Jack said with a grin from the kitchen. Jovie all but skipped over and hugged her father and Kai gave him a hearty handshake.

"Dad, you brought all your stuff from the apartment?" Jovie asked.

"I brought all of it. That's our old sofa and chairs over there, our old dinning table and chairs, our old TV, and our bookcase. The apartment's gone."

"So you're staying?"

He grinned, looking at Florimell with the same adoration she looked at him with. "Absolutely."

Jovie smiled warmly, nearly overcome that her parents were back together, in what she thought was a fantastic ending to the greatest love story she'd known. "I'm glad."

"So am I, Jovie." Then he grinned mischievously. "And if you're not out of your house and in those fields by 6:00, I'll come harass you like I did at home."

"Oh Dad, please don't," Jovie groaned.

"And you live on a farm. There are all sorts of ways I can harass you."

"Are we going to wake up to a cow peering into the window?" Kai asked.

"You bet."

Jovie laughed and elbowed Jack. "My dad, the prankster. There's probably worse rolling around in your head."

"Of course, but I'd never tell you." He looked at Kai and grinned. "Hey Kai, if you want to see embarrassing pictures of your new wife from when she was younger, go look at the pictures on the wall, or there are worse ones in the photo albums in the bookcase."

Kai grinned back at him. "Naked baby pictures of her in the bathtub? Pictures of her first birthday with cake all over her face and in her hair?"

"You know it." Jack grinned as Kai ran to the bookcase, followed by Jovie, who was playfully trying to keep him from looking in the albums. He leaned over to Florimell as he plated lunch and whispered, "They're good for each other."

"Yes," she whispered back. "Don't they remind you of someone? Playing around like kids, giving each other a hard time, and madly in love?"

He smiled at her warmly, remembering their courtship and the years they spent together, and happy to have her back. "They do . . . it's right on the tip of my tongue."

"Hey, watch this." Jack straightened up and started bringing food to the table. "Hey kids, come and get it!" Jovie and Kai came to the table and sat down, as did Jack and Florimell. As soon as they were situated and Jovie was about to put the first forkful of food into her mouth, Jack said, "So, how was the honeymoon?"

Florimell had to keep from bursting out laughing as she saw the fork freeze inches from Jovie's mouth and the color drain from both her face and Kai's. When no one said anything, Jack grinned impishly and asked, "That good, huh?"

Then Kai grinned, and asked, "How was your first week back in Mineral Town with your wife?"

"Touché, Kai. Touché." The two men laughed as Jovie looked at her mother with a grin and Florimell grinned back, both happy to have their family again, as it was meant to be.


	3. Part Time to Full Time

Jovie awoke to Kai snuggled up to her with an arm slung over her waist. She smiled as she remembered their very late night, as every night since they had come home had been. But every morning, she felt less and less rested. She turned to shut the alarm clock off, waking Kai.

"Is it six already?" he groaned. Jovie would have chuckled had she been more awake, because Kai was the worst morning person she had ever known.

"Yeah. Time to get up, Mr. Hampton," Jovie replied, sounding just as tired.

Kai smiled groggily. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that, Mrs. Hampton."

Jovie smiled back. "I don't think I will either. But we need to get going."

Kai groaned again and put a pillow over his face. "I don't want to go to work."

"I know it's hard work, Kai. But your restaurant is taking off! It's exciting!"

"I'm too exhausted to enjoy it. I need help with it."

Jovie stretched as she got out of bed. "Why don't you put out flyers in town and hire a couple of people to wait tables? You're doing well enough to get a payroll going."

Kai removed the pillow from his face and looked at her. "You know, you're right. Having someone to wait tables would be a help. I'll go to the supermarket and ask Sasha about helping me put a flyer together."

Jovie grinned. "That's the spirit! And it's an added bonus that Sasha will be helping you. There's no faster way to spread something around town."

Kai chuckled as he got out of bed. "No, there isn't." Kai pulled Jovie to him and kissed her. "Thank you. You're full of ideas that my sleep deprived brain wouldn't think of."

Jovie grinned. "And my brain wouldn't be full of them if it wasn't sleep deprived. It wanders when it's sleep deprived."

"I'm so glad it does."

"Hi, Kai! What can I do for you?" Sasha asked when he walked into the Supermarket.

Kai walked up to the counter with a sketch of his flyer and put it on the counter. "Hi, Sasha! I was wondering if you could help me make up some flyers."

"Of course!" She picked up the sketch and looked it over. "This should be simple to make up. What color paper are you looking for?"

"Something blinding. Maybe do fifteen bright red and fifteen green?"

"I can do that. With the graphic design, printing, and photocopying, they'll be done by 3:00. Looking for help at the Lodge?"

Kai smiled. "Yeah. Business has just exploded over there, and I can't cook and wait tables all day. I don't get a break, and I'm completely wiped by the end of the day."

"You've been looking tired lately. I have seen how busy it is down there. Hey, why don't you see if Popuri wants to help you out? With Karen working on the Poultry Farm now, there _really_ isn't anything for Popuri to do."

Kai thought about that, then smiled at Sasha. "Thanks Sasha, I will. I have to start in half an hour, but I'll go and talk to her after my shift today."

"You're welcome. I'll bring these by when they're finished."

Kai said his goodbyes to Sasha, then left the Supermarket to go to the Beach. As he unlocked and entered the Seaside Lodge, he looked around. Having waitstaff would be huge. He would no longer be the one cooking, waiting on tables, and bussing them. He wouldn't be stuck there until 10:00 at night cleaning up. He wouldn't get any help in the kitchen, but he had no idea where he'd find another cook. One step at a time—he could reach out to Forget-Me-Not Valley for a cook later.

He would love it if Popuri would come help him out. He already knew her and knew she would work hard if given the chance. He would definitely go to talk to her after his shift was over, and beg her to start tomorrow. It wouldn't be the waitstaff and cook he was looking for, but even just one would be a huge help. He might only be half as exhausted when he got home.

Jovie hummed as she walked to her parents' house once she was done with her morning chores. As much as she had enjoyed the time away with Kai on their honeymoon, it had been good to get back to working the farm. She hadn't realized how much she had missed tilling the soil, watering the plants, tending to the chickens until she hadn't had it for a week. A vacation was nice, but she really belonged here.

She knocked on her parents' door and waited. "Hey Jovie!" she heard from behind her. Jovie turned to find Karen in the yard of the Poultry Farm and smiled. Karen walked over to the road. "You mom's inside, talking to Lillia."

"That doesn't surprise me. I'm glad they're getting to be friends," Jovie replied.

"Me too. It's really lifted her spirits, to have someone to talk to that won't sit and tell her how sorry they are for her every five minutes. And have someone that talks about things other than town gossip."

Jovie grinned. "I can't say I blame her. It's too much work to keep up with all of it, and there are far better things to do."

"Yeah, anything's better than gossip." Karen grinned. "It annoys my mom to no end that I couldn't give a crap about town gossip." She looked at her watch. "Shoot—I have to get back to the chickens. But if you want to stop in, I'm sure Lillia would love to have more company."

"Thanks!" The two girls smiled as they said their goodbyes and Jovie made her way into the shop. Sure enough, Florimell was inside, sitting next to the counter that Lillia sat behind. Lillia looked as cheerful as always as the two women laughed with one another.

Lillia noticed Jovie, and waved her over with a smile. "Hi, Jovie! Come over and talk for a bit. You wouldn't be here if you weren't done with your chores."

"You know me too well, Lillia," Jovie said with a smile as she leaned on the counter.

"I can't help it if I'm observant. I've also observed that marriage suits you, Jovie. I never thought you could be any more cheerful than you were before, but you surprise me at every turn. And I never thought I'd see Kai be as happy as he is. Having a home and family suits him, better than I think he believed it could."

"You hit the nail on the head there. He feels so happy that he decided to put roots down that he doesn't know why he didn't last Summer." She smiled at Florimell. "You're keeping Lillia out of trouble, aren't you, Mom?"

Florimell flashed her a dazzling smile. "Of course! She's on the straight and narrow now that I'm around."

Lillia laughed. "You two are funny."

"Jovie!" someone yelled from the stairs. Jovie turned to see Popuri at the bottom of the stairs. "I thought I heard you down here!" She all but skipped over and joined the conversation.

"Hi, Popuri," Jovie said with a smile. "What are you up to today?"

"Nothing, as usual. Since Karen came, I have nothing to do." She threw her hand across her forehead for dramatic effect, which made Jovie smile and Lillia frown.

"Popuri, you don't need to be so dramatic. There's plenty for you to do," she said to her daughter.

"Mom, I've grown tired of filling my time. I need something to keep myself busy. I can only go to the library, beach, and mountain so many times."

Florimell looked at Jovie, and Jovie knew instantly what she was thinking. "Hey Pop, if there was a job available, would you like it?"

Popuri regarded her friend carefully. "I'll take pretty much anything at this point. Even if you asked me to help on the farm, I'd get all dirty to have something to do."

Jovie laughed. "I don't think that'll be necessary. If you're interested, Kai was going to start looking for some help. He needs another cook, but he's also looking for someone to wait tables."

"Really? I'd love to wait tables!" Popuri all but bounced in place at the prospect. "I'm going to see him right now!" She practically ran out the door, leaving Jovie laughing again.

"I hope Kai is ready to have help right away!" Florimell said with a chuckle.

"Pretty sure he is. The poor man is exhausted. Being the only one in the restaurant was okay when he was only open for a few hours a day for one season, but we never anticipated how much business he's doing now. The restaurant has become more popular with the expanded menu. Great for the wallet, not so great for the one poor sap doing all the work."

"Jovie, thank you," Lillia said. "Rick never let Popuri do much before, and now with Karen around, there _really_ isn't anything for her to do for work here. If Kai would hire her, that would give her purpose. She's too much like me, in needing something to do."

"I'm happy she's interested. But I admit that I've got my own motive too. A husband that's not exhausted is a happy husband."

"Then again, I'm sure being a newlywed is contributing to his being exhausted," Florimell said, nudging Jovie with her elbow.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Now, I'm leaving to go help Mary with her writing." Jovie left, smiling as Lillia and Florimell laughed at embarrassing her.

Kai wiped the sweat from his brow. The lunch rush had been busier than usual, and he was absolutely wiped. With the last customer gone, he looked at the tables across the restaurant. He hadn't even had time to keep up with bussing tables, so at least four tables still had dishes on them. He groaned to himself as he trudged toward the first table. When the bell on the door rang, he sucked in a breath, but relaxed when he saw it was Popuri.

"Hey, Pop. You need something for your mom?" he asked.

"No. Jovie said that you were going to be looking for help. I came to beg you to hire me. I'm so damn bored at the Poultry Farm now, I'll do just about anything," she said hurredly.

"I was going to come by the Poultry Farm tonight to beg you to work for me. Jovie said that you might be interested. As you can see, I need all the help I can get bussing and waiting tables." He motioned to the tables with dishes on them. "Can you start tomorrow?"

"Absolutely! I'd love to! Thank you!" She looked around and grinned at him. "Want me to start now? It's not like I have anything else to do."

"Sure! If we can just put these in the sink, I'll wash them later."

"I can help with that too."

"Wow, you _really_ must be bored."

"You have no idea."

Unexpectedly, the door opened again. A man with silver hair pulled back into a low ponytail and striking blue eyes entered, wearing slacks and a button down shirt. "Hi," he said. "Mister Green said you were looking for a cook."

Kai looked at Popuri, then back at the newcomer. "He was right. And you are?"

"Skye Barlow," he said, offering a hand, which Kai shook. "I had intended to pass through, but I like it here in Mineral Town. I'd like to find work and stay."

Kai smiled a little, reminded of Cliff when he first came to town. "Fair enough. If you have the time now, would you mind cooking me something? You're welcome to my fridge and kitchen."

"Of course. I thought you would ask." Skye followed Kai back to the kitchen and opened the fridge. "I can use anything?"

"Absolutely."

"Excellent. Be prepared to have your mind blown."

Kai and Popuri sat at the table across from the entryway to the kitchen and watched with amazement. Skye seemed to be familiar with the kitchen within a few minutes and had four of the six burners of the stove in use a little later. Kai and Popuri began chatting quietly as they waited, and were presented with two dishes within half an hour. "I made spaghetti, as I saw it on your menu, and also whipped up some curry noodles as I already had the noodles on."

Kai and Popuri tasted both, and looked at each other. "Skye, these are really good," Kai said. "And you work quickly. Did you go to culinary school?"

"For a time, then I couldn't afford it anymore. I worked for a couple of years as a short order cook at a restaurant in the city, but then I grew discontent with city life. So here I am."

"You're hired. You have no idea how much this will help me. Actually, you might." He waved a hand at the remaining tables that hadn't been bussed.

Skye chuckled. "You're helping me just as much. When do you want me to start?"

"How does tomorrow sound? I can start training you on the menu items, although I get the feeling you won't need much training."

"Actually, how would you feel about me proposing new ones?"

"That would be great. I didn't go to culinary school at all, so I'm not as creative on that front as I would like to be."

Skye smiled. "Fantastic. Well, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning. I'm staying at the inn, if you ever need to find me."

"Great." Kai shook Skye's hand. "See you tomorrow."

After Skye left, Kai smiled at Popuri. "Hey, could you go tell Sasha—"

"That you don't need the flyers anymore?" Sasha said from the doorway with a knowing smile.

"How did you know?"

"I was working on the graphic design this morning, when I remembered that Manna had said that a man came to stay at the inn while you were away on your honeymoon, and he had asked Doug about work as a cook. I ran down and had Doug send him here."

Kai grinned from ear-to-ear. "Thank you! Really, I owe you one."

"Nonsense. He would have found his way here eventually once he saw the flyers, but this way saves you the cost of the flyers you only would have needed for a day."

Kai laughed. "Thank you anyway. If he works out, you get free lunch for a month."

"Now that's incentive. I have to get back to the store, but I'll see you around."

After she left, Kai and Popuri got to work clearing the tables. As they chatted over the dishes in the sink, Kai couldn't help but smile. Jovie was going to be totally floored that he had found the help he needed in less than twenty-four hours. He was seeing a change in the restaurant from a necessity to an actual career. And he liked it.


End file.
